A Russian delight..

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• Location: St Petersburg
• Holiday Types: City break, Getting there, Short Break, Luxury Holiday

• by: CarlyWhiteOak
• on: Wed 23 May 2012

15 like 1007 views

A fantastic holiday in St Petersburg, it all went off like clockwork and everything was tip top !!

The hotel Grand Hotel Europe was brilliant in every respect, the ‘grand dame’ of St Petersburg it was well located, had immense character and beautiful interiors, the staff were always impeccable with their service and the breakfast was unbelievable, a huge spread. We used the bar downstairs with its cigar room every night and it had a lovely live trio singing/playing great background music, a real atmospheric experience. On the Friday night we ate in the 5 star restaurant in the hotel with ballet and classical music as well as lighter music for part of the evening, the setting (an art deco dining room) was fantastic and the meal excellent and very well priced considering its one of the best restaurants in St Petersburg This restaurant had hosted the Queen, Bill Clinton and Putin to name a few from an impressive list.

The rooms were beautiful, overlooking Arts square and we got upgraded to a suite (room 509) with a huge terrace with settees and loungers (because it was out anniversary!!!). Our friends also had a great terrace, with table and chairs where they had lunch one day when the weather permitted so they were very pleased aswell.

The trips and transfer went off very well, our guide Helen was brilliant and we wouldn’t have done it without her, anyone else going should definitely have a guide especially for Peterhof and St Catherine’s Palace. Also for Peterhof, people should be at the main fountain in front of the house just before 10.30 as they will turn on the fountains then and play classical music as the water starts to rise, it sounds corny but we were really moved by it, not to be missed.

We booked directly with the hotel for their small cruise boat which seats about 6 max, its very nice and we had 2 hours cruising the canals with champagne, certainly a lovely way to do it rather than on the big tour boats.(Sorry to name drop but just to say that Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones and Demi Moore and her toyboy husband had also used the same boat recently for the tour!!!)

So that’s it in a nutshell, still on a high from it all but we all agreed we will be back for lots more next year

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